Ohio teen’s family lashes out at probe of fatal police shooting

Associated Press

Updated
3:59 pm PDT, Saturday, May 20, 2017

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The family of a black 13-year-old boy fatally shot by a white Columbus police officer after a suspected robbery last year said it is “completely dissatisfied” with how the investigation was handled after a grand jury voted not to indict the officer.

The Franklin County grand jury was considering whether Officer Bryan Mason should be charged criminally in the September 2016 shooting of Tyre King. Police have said Mason shot the teen after he pulled a BB gun that looked like a real firearm from his waistband during a foot pursuit.

Attorney Sean Walton issued a statement on behalf Tyre’s family after the grand jury’s decision Friday.

“Tyre’s family is saddened and completely dissatisfied with how the entire investigation was handled by the City of Columbus, the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office,” the statement said. “The deliberate indifference for the lives of its citizens displayed by the City of Columbus and the pain Tyre’s family has dealt with since his death was only exacerbated by the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office’s apparent bias in presenting evidence and witnesses to the grand jury.”

Demonstrators gathered Friday night about a block from where Tyre was shot, calling for more accountability in the justice system and more involvement from elected leaders.

They sat silently for 13 seconds — one second for each year of the teen’s life.

Walton has argued that because Tyre was shot three times on the left side, the results indicate he was running away at the time and not posing a threat to police. A medical examiner hired by the family reached the same conclusion.